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For the past 27 years the coveted Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (DMNPP) has encouraged both excellence and creativity in contemporary Australian portraiture by asking artists to interpret the look and personality of a chosen sitter, either unknown or well known.
This year, Melbourne artist and first-time competitor, Warren Crossett took out the $150,000 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize from a field of 912 entries with a self-portrait oil homage to traditional Flemish depictions of St Jerome.
Angus Trumble, Director of the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra and Rick Amor acclaimed Australian artist judged the 2015 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. “The judges were enormously impressed by the winning portrait¹s technical virtuosity; its concentrated energy, the boldness and playfulness of the idea and the success with which the artist rose to the exceedingly difficult challenge he set himself of mastering a square format,and with such innate self-confidence and even a hint of wry humour”, says Trumble.
Amor states “Angus Trumble and I made the difficult selection of the finalists and the winner on the basis of painting skill, invention and the ability to express an apparent connection with the sitter.”
Established in 2007, the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize (MCPP) is a national competition that awards and promotes Australian contemporary photography and excellence in all forms of still based artwork. Inviting photographers to interpret ‘Contemporary Life in Australia’ with an emphasis on Australians going about their ordinary lives, MCPP encourages the production of photographs taken in Australia, by Australians, that reflect the diversity, multiculturalism and uniqueness of life.
Queensland surf photographer Trent Mitchell has snapped up the 2015 Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize with his work Boy in Boat, Hervey Bay. The photograph captures a laughing teenager seated in a boat preoccupied with his mobile phone whilst fake great white sharks surround him.
Cheryl Newman, former Photography Director and contributing writer of the UK’s Telegraph Magazine, photographic historian Alan Davies, the former Emeritus Curator of Photographs at the State Library of New South Wales and Deborah Hutton, the host of Event on Foxtel Arts make up our panel of judges.
The decision was unanimous is naming Trent Mitchell’s, “quirky and beautifully observed moment”, the winner.
“The winning photograph says so many things about Australian society today. We loved it!”, proclaims Davies.
Juniper Hall
Until 14 February, 2016
Sydney
Images:
2015 DMNPP Winner Warren Crossett, Self portrait after St Jerome Flanders
2015 MCPP Winner Trent Mitchell, Boy in Boat. Hervey Bay, QLD 2015
